This removes many of the nutrients, which is a problem, but it also makes these foods easy to digest. That’s one of the reasons that processed foods are so easy to overeat—they pass through the digestive system very quickly and easily, allowing us to eat more calories overall. To switch from a maintenance diet into a bulking diet, you only need about 500 extra calories per day. For example, eating meals that are too big for your stomach to handle can increase your risk of getting acid reflux or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). This is especially common with ectomorphs due to our smaller stomachs. And, as you can imagine, bulking diets can exacerbate this issue (study). For example, if you’re bulking up on 3000 calories per day, you only need about thirty grams of fibre.

By doing this, your body will use the extra calories you eat to fuel up for workouts and repair muscles, instead of storing them as fat. Discover many more syrups that can help you gain weight, how to consume them safely, and more helpful tips in our article about weight gain syrups.

That means that it’s probably okay to have some dessert after dinner most nights, and there’s little harm in the occasional pizza. Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available.

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Testers really loved the ingredients and how tasty the Whey Hip Chocolate Chip bars turned out, which can be made in under 10 minutes. “I like the idea of combining coconut with chocolate chips…it’s also great that you can control the amount of sweetener,” one tester said. “It was so easy to make! I literally put it together in minutes,” another person said. Managing your calorie intake can be an effective way to quantify your energy needs but it does ignore the wider contribution food makes to our health and well-being. Pregnant and breastfeeding women as well as diabetics and those on medication should seek medical advice before considering any significant change to their calorie intake.

In a U.S. survey that grouped participants into men and women, 1.3% of men and 2% of women 20 years and older are underweight (9). This helps your meal last longer and forces you to chew more, further increasing your feelings of fullness (13). The raw cauliflower (yes, really!) staves off bloating that you might face on a high calorie diet.

After all, weight loss is about more than just understanding calorie density. By tracking everything you eat, you see how the calorie density of each food affects your weight loss goals. Theoretically, any weight loss program can help you lose weight if you consume fewer calories than you burn each day. Her experience includes educating on a wide range of conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, HIV, neurological conditions, and more. Lean cuts of beef, such as flank steak, and fatty fish, such as salmon, are common proteins for gaining weight and building muscle. Preparing and eating your meals at home allows you to control the ingredients and your portion sizes — and therefore, your calorie intake.

In other words, it may be easier to eat 500 fewer calories each day than to burn this number of calories through exercise. Nonetheless, it’s still recommended to engage in muscle-strengthening and aerobic exercises for their beneficial effects on overall health (11). This article explains everything you need to know about a calorie deficit, including what it is, how it affects weight loss, and how to achieve it in a healthy, sustainable way. You should be able to lose weight with a deficit of 500 calories a day without experiencing extreme hunger or fatigue. Many people view bulking as unhealthy because it can increase fat mass, particularly when your calorie surplus is too high. Experts recommend consuming 10–20% above your daily weight maintenance calorie needs during the bulking phase for an average weight gain of 0.25–0.5% of your body weight per week (1, 6, 7).

Read more about high calorie boost here.

Pillar 3: Eat More Snacks

The generous helping of Greek yogurt ups the protein content, while the cozy spices instantly boost the depth of flavor. This wholesome smoothie is made with raw carrots, banana, pineapple, and high-calorie coconut milk. Forget chocolate milkshakes from the McDonald’s drive-through, folks.

For those seeking to gain weight, adding a few regular potatoes into the diet can be a healthy way to do so. As well as being high in both fat and calories, peanut butter also offers an impressive range of nutrients, including large amounts of manganese and vitamin E (18). This article provides a list of 20 high-calorie foods, and they all contain beneficial nutrients too. Bodybuilders are another group of people that frequently aim to put on weight. Read this article to learn more about calorie-dense foods and nutrient-dense foods. Protein is an important nutrient found naturally in many food sources that is required by virtually every cell throughout the human body, including in the muscles, bones, skin and hair.

KIND PROTEIN From Real Food Bars (12 count)

What’s more, they pack in a variety of superfoods and adaptogens for even more nutrition. They are on the smaller side but are the lowest cost per bar on this list.